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No, the F.C.C. Isn’t Destroying the Internet

By Vikas Bajaj February 4, 2015 2:14 pmFebruary 4, 2015 2:14 pm

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Tom Wheeler.Credit Jose Luis Magana/Associated Press

Listening to large cable and phone companies might lead some people to conclude that the Federal Communications Commission is about to unleash the technological equivalent of the bubonic plague upon the Internet, or what some are calling “utility regulation.” Don’t believe the hype.

Tom Wheeler, the chairman of the F.C.C., has written a column for Wired reminding people that what the telecommunications industry fears – common carrier regulation – has played a vital role in the growth of the Internet.
In brief, a company designated as a common carrier can’t engage in unjust and unreasonable discrimination. (Lots of businesses fall into this category including phone companies, hotels and airlines.) Under that principle, the F.C.C. in the late 1960s ordered AT&T, then a regulated monopoly, to allow users to attach devices not made by the company to its networks. One of those devices was the Carterfone, which allowed people to connect their landlines to two-way radios. This decision eventually led to more detailed F.C.C. rules, which, in turn, made it possible for AOL and others to offer dial-up Internet service.

Now the F.C.C. appears poised to say that broadband Internet service should also be treated like a common carrier, at least to an extent. Mr. Wheeler wants to do this to prevent cable and phone companies like Comcast and Verizon from blocking or slowing down content requested by their customers.

This is a smart, new use of an age-old concept that remains valid. Broadband companies wield enormous power over their users. Most Americans have just one or two choices for high-speed Internet service, so they cannot easily switch providers. Mr. Wheeler is also being sensible in not trying to impose all the rules that he could. He has already said, for example, that the F.C.C. will not try to regulate prices for Internet service even though that’s within the commission’s power. The F.C.C. will vote on Mr. Wheeler’s proposal on Feb. 26.